Women of Honor

Last Sunday I wrote about women's wrestling being something wrestling companies should concentrate on in order to attract greater numbers of viewers. During that I touched on the fact that ROH doesn't have a women's division (read about this here). I think that's a mistake on their part. ROH would benefit greatly from the addition of a women's division.

Maria Kanellis has been a heavily featured character for a few years now.  She's over as a heel with existing fans. ODB has recently been brought in as an affiliate of the Briscoes. Maria knocking about made sense. She's married to Michael Bennett and has mostly been presented as a manager. She has a reason to be there.

Top stars of a potential women's division right here.

The same can't be said for ODB. Her previous work has always had her featured as an active wrestler. There's no reason why she'd go to work for a company that doesn't have a women's division for her to compete in. Okay, she initially came in to counteract Maria. That worked but it doesn't explain why she's stuck around.

Announcing the creation of an official women's division would create a reason for ODB to be in ROH and would give Maria more to do (yeah, more than managing the IWGP tag champs). It would allow ROH to get in on the popularity of women's wrestling and it would create roles for new stars in the company. With WWE currently turning NXT into its own indy venture ROH needs all the marketable names it can get.

One of the things in favour of an ROH women's division is that the groundwork is already there. ROH has been promoting "women of honor" matches for years. They've featured SHIMMER heavily in the past. They've just never gone the whole way and created an official women's league in the company. This wouldn't need to be a massive change for ROH. They already have ODB and Maria to play the lead face and heel respectively. Hiring three or four other women would allow them to flesh out the ranks, with other people being brought in less often to work as enhancement or lower card talent.

Taryn has proven herself a good wrestler
 in spite of her WWECW background.

Imagine a Women of Honor division built around women cherry-picked from Shine and SHIMMER, like Jayme Jameson, Su Yung, Athena and Andrea. It would easily better anything TNA are doing with the Knockouts these days (Dollhouse have failed to live up to their potential) and could, with enough time, rival the NXT division. In fact if TNA goes under they could bring in some of the better Knockouts.

This assumes that ROH haven't specifically avoided setting up a women's division for some reason. Perhaps their reasoning is that everyone else is making headway in that area and without as many top names to go around they're best off without something official. That would be understandable but it would also be a shame. The approach ROH booker Delirious has towards storylines is enjoyable and something that's not really used anywhere else in wrestling. I'd like to see it applied to a women's division. And I think other people would too.

Key to the (Alleged) Boom

When he was doing initial interviews to hype Global Force Wrestling last April (yeah, fourteen months on and they've still not run a show) Jeff Jarrett talked about how it was a good time to start a wrestling promotion. He predicted another boom period. I was sceptical of that claim. While I don't think it's come to pass on quite the level 'Double J' seemed to be expecting wrestling does seem more popular, more exciting, now than it did fourteen months ago. Or at least wrestling fans have become more feverous with their praise. That's pretty much the same thing, right?

The so-called Wednesday Night Wars are a good example of wrestling being more exciting. ROH is now the lead-in show for TNA's Impact Wrestling on Destination America, in direct competition with WWE's white hot NXT show and the weekly one hour cinematic masterpiece that is Lucha Underground. All of those shows but Impact are great. They have their own distinct tropes and identities and they feel fresh, new and exciting. Impact, despite its numerous flaws and the fact that it's just flat out not good, has a dedicated fan base who will tune in (and, perhaps more importantly, defend it) every week. It's a concentration of shows that illustrates the variety of styles and approaches that can be taken within the pro wrestling format.

Calling it a rise in popularity rather than a definitive boom period also neatly covers the issue of WWE's dominance. The phrase boom period conjures up an image of another wrestling promotion becoming successful enough to challenge WWE's status as top (big) dog. That won't happen. WWE has so much cash flowing in and so many draws and talents at their disposal that they're going to be on top until some sort of major, unpredictable catastrophe befalls them. The company best placed to challenge them, New Japan, are years away from even trying in North America, although they're comfortably smashing WWE to pieces in Japan.

No, a rise in popularity makes it clear we're discussing the status of the wrestling biz as a whole, particularly the non-WWE segment. And this finally brings me around to my point: I think the company that will do best as wrestling gets a little more popular in mainstream culture is the company that makes the best use of female talent.

Give this woman a women's division to head up. Watch the money roll in.

Looking back it's clear that the last few years have seen the status of women's wrestling progress considerably. The prominence of Ivelisse Velez and Sexy Star in Lucha Underground and the entire women's division of NXT has simply helped to highlight the point, because they're TV shows. SHIMMER has been going for ten years now and has, along with Florida-based Shine, helped to create an environment in which all-women companies are a viable option for promoters.

These promotions being in a position to continue running shows illustrates that there's an audience for women's wrestling. So does the reaction that the performances of the wrestlers above get on TV. Just look at the response to the Banks versus Lynch match from Takeover: Unstoppable. WWE and TNA have been letting us down for years with shoddy women's divisions booked as afterthoughts, despite each group having had a solid division at one time or another over the last fifteen years¹. Ring of Honor doesn't even have a women's division at all.

There's a gap in the market for a wrestling TV show that emphasises women's wrestling. NXT has made a lot of headway but so have LU, and it wouldn't be impossible for ROH to look at hiring some more women to go along with Maria, Veda Scott (who never seems to wrestle in ROH despite doing so elsewhere) and ODB. Global Force could theoretically launch with a fantastic women's league if Jarrett wanted to, there's enough available talent to be signed up. You can turn on any wrestling show and see guys killing it great matches. Making women min event attractions would be new and something wrestling fans are ready for. More importantly it would be a way to hook non-fans with something different. That's why I think good quality women's wrestling is going to be of increased importance in wrestling's future, whether there's another boom period coming or not.

***

¹ For TNA it was the Knockouts. In the mid-00s they, along with the X Division, were a reason to watch TNA in the mid-00s. Then the writers decided to revert to the WWE approach of focusing on the world title scene, keeping women and cruiserweights as a side attraction.

A few years earlier WWE had Trish Stratus, Molly Holy, Ivory, Lita, Victoria, Gail Kim and others in a competitive women's division that produced good matches. It's not clear why they decided to scale the division back and reduce it to the filler role it occupied for about a decade. At least the company as a whole remained profitable and had other, enjoyable things going on instead. Which can't be said for TNA.

EVOLVE 42 review

Twenty-four hours after hitting Shine stronghold Ybor City with EVOLVE 41, the EVOLVE crew hit up Orlando for EVOLVE 42. Coming off an enjoyable show in Ybor and a packed WrestleMania weekend offering this show had tough acts to follow. It got off to an underwhelming start and was set back by technical problems (something so common with iPPVs that I've stopped mentioning them, for the most part) but pulled things together in its final hour to be a satisfying event.

The show kicked off with Lenny Leonard and Ron Nemi joking about sandwiches on commentary and Santana defending the Shine championship against Andrea in the ring. This was more a platform for advancing the Su Yung and So Cal Val issues than anything else. This priority extended to the finish, where Yung grabbed Santana as she hit the ropes and held her for Andrea to cheap shot her. That backfired and Su was sent sailing off the apron, which caused a brief pause from Andrea that allowed Santana to apply a small package for the win.

The match as a whole was enjoyable but pretty basic. Andrea seemed really uncertain at points and definitely didn't seem to have the nasty streak which would make her role as the new monster on the Shine scene believable. 

After that match Val called Yung worthless and an idiot (but not a worthless idiot). Andrea gave Yung a Samoan driver. Then Val dumped water on her and got carried backstage by Andrea. Yung was also carried backstage, but by a lowly referee. This would all be revisited in the main event. While I think it's commendable that EVOLVE are telling a story focusing on women I find the specifics odd. Su Yung did a fake heel turn only last year, when she pretended to side with Rich Swann against the PAB. Val doesn't wrestle. And the majority of the feud will play out in Shine, a different company. I understand that the idea is to get more people buying Shine events to see how things play out but I' not convinced what we've seen so far will do that.

Match two, emphasised as being the official opener by Leonard, once again saw Martin Stone on job duty. This time it was Ethan Page getting the win over him with an Ace crusher and a Spinning Dwayne. It was another match as much about furthering an angle as providing good wrestling. In this case it was Leonard discussing Page's fresh rivalry with Johnny Gargano.

Match three saw stringy-haired ROH job lad Andrew Everett become a stringy-haired EVOLVE job lad to lose to Rey Horus. It was a fun match but one I expected to be quicker and have more highlights. Aside from Everett hitting a lovely Asai moonsault and turning a headscissors into a kip up and Horus's match-winning top rope hurricanrana there wasn't much to be dazzled by. But the crowd wasn't overly large so I understand them not taking too many risks, and they avoided being outright boring, so on the whole it wasn't bad.

TJ Perkins versus Timothy Thatcher was the first unquestioned hit of the evening. Their early mat wrestling was slick, engaging and logical, Thatcher working with even more ferocity than usual to convey his increased desire to win after his loss to Roderick Strong in the previous evening's main event. They traded the initiative back and forth, each focusing on the other's arm. That's standard for Thatcher, less so for TJP. It made sense given the grappling credentials (underrated in Perkins' case) of both men.

Particular highlights of the match were TJP turning a Thatcher headstand into a body scissors; Thatcher employing a rolling gut wrench; Thatcher countering a frog splash into a Fujiwara armbar; TJP hitting a GTS into a Pele kick; and the match-ending exchange of armbars which ended with Thatcher gaining the upper hand (no pun intended) to force a tap out from Perkins. After the match Thatcher, who we're told doesn't talk much but has had something to say on several recent shows, took a microphone and requested a match with the winner of the Galloway v Strong title match that will occur at the next batch of shows.

Biff Busick then took on EVOLVE's top heel, Roderick Strong. I make note of Roddy being the company's lead bad guy because he only got brought in as a regular in the back half of 2014. It's impressive how entrenched he is in the company after such a short time. Yes, he was a known quantity before he debuted but it's still impressive that it feels like he's been in the company for years and has become one of its focal points.

As is the case with the majority of Strong matches in EVOLVE this match began with him doing some heelish stalling. Unlike usual Biff managed to get his hands on Roddy and they immediately launched into an intense match, brawling at ringside and swapping big moves both in and out of the ring (including a nasty-looking backbreaker on the barricade from Strong). It was a welcome change of pace after the deliberate Thatcher v Perkins bout.

For the second night in a row the match ended on a judgement call from referee Brandon Tolle. This time he halted the match as Strong was trapped in the rear naked choke. Strong got in Tolle's face about the decision before storming backstage. Busick stayed in the ring to tell everyone that Tolle had finally made a good call, a reference to him losing because of Tolle the night before. Engaging heel mode he also declared that he was unappreciated by EVOVLE managements and fans. Thatcher returned to the ring and said Busick was pissing him off. They brawled and were separated by referees and FIP wrestlers. Thatcher staggered backstage afterwards, Lenny Leonard theorising that a slap to the ear and thrown off his equilibrium. Shoot or storyline? It's tough to know with EVOLVE.

Trevor Lee v Davey Richards took the semi-main event slot. Lee was impressive in his match against AR Fox at EVOLVE 37 in January and he was impressive again here. He's good at the en vogue style of martial arts kicks and knee strikes blended with more traditional suplexes and power bombs. Richards is a peculiar dude, which makes for an interesting in-ring character when he's on form, and also a very good wrestler. He meshed nicely with Lee and gave him a lot of time to show what he could do. He also had him kick out of a top rope double stomp, which created a great close two count. Lee lost after a roundhouse but his status was enhanced by looking competitive opposite Richards. He's definitely somebody that warrants further EVOLVE bookings.

The headline match was a street fight for the Open the United Gate championships, the Ronin team of Rich Swann and Johnny Gargano challenging Anthony Nese and Caleb Konley. For the record this was the first time the titles had been defended in 2015. The last defence had been made by Konley and Trent Baretta against The Colony and the Bravado brothers during the WWN tour of China in November (interesting side note on that is that five of those six names are no longer associated with the company). This highlights just how little attention the EVOLVE tag division gets. They're at the point now where they should make a concerted effort to make their tag belts relevant again.

That said this match did give the titles a boost. Not just because Swann and Gargano are big deals in EVOLVE but because all four men wrestled like the championships meant something to them. Well, I say wrestled, but this match didn't actually feature much wrestling. They made good use of the street fight stip, using ladders, chairs and tables to put on a crazy brawl that should have satisfied anyone into this style of match. Highlights included a lawn dart into a rubbish bin (trash can, for North American readers), Konley bumping through a ladder propped between the ring and the barricade (sadly missed by the cameras), Su Yung misting So Cal Val before cross bodying Andrea, an amusing but slightly too long New Jack-esque weapons sequence, and a power bomb onto a ladder from Gargano to Nese followed by Swann's match-winning frog splash. It doesn't sit especially well with the general style in EVOLVE but it was good fun for what it was and worked well as a rarity.

After the match Ethan Page heckled Ronin from the commentary table (he'd called the match). Gargano said he didn't want to wrestle Page and called him a nobody. More shoot comments about Gargano being a big shot followed until Page got up and teased getting in the ring for a fight. He didn't though. Instead he wandered backstage, leaving Ronin to celebrate to All Night Long.

EVOLVEs 41 and 42 were a good pair of shows. There were a few skippable matches but nothing bad and different tastes were catered to, something illustrated nicely by the contrast in main events. Sapolsky continued building up "his guys" Caleb Konley, Timothy Thatcher and Ethan Page, showing they were the right selections for their larger roles. And you know what? I didn't miss AR Fox once.

***

Results summary:

Santana defeated Andrea to retain the Shine championship
Ethan Page defeated Martin Stone
Rey Horus defeated Andrew Everett
Timothy Thatcher defeated TJ Perkins
Biff Busick defeated Roderick Strong
Davey Richards defeated Trevor Lee
Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann defeated Anthony Nese and Caleb Konley to win the Open the United Gate championships

WWN Mercury Rising 2015 review

Mercury Rising 2015 was in every conceivable sense the WWN answer to WrestleMania. It played out in front of what will probably, outside of the China tour, be the biggest crowd the company attracts all year. It featured a variety of major matches, some of them grudge matches built up over months, and developments that changed the landscape of the company, impacting on its future. Most obviously it was held just one night before and a few miles away from WrestleMania 31.

But was it any good? Let's run through the show and then come back to that at the end. He'd been injured the night before at EVOLVE 40 but that didn't stop Rich Swann from opening the show with a several minutes long song and dance routine in which he called on several members of the audience to join in with his rendition of Lionel Richie's All Night Long over the microphone. The crowd as a whole, and most of the people Swann called on in particular, seemed self-conscious during this. I don't blame them. It's awkward.

Once the music cut Swann acknowledged his injury, as much to ensure the live crowd were up to speed as anything else, and challenged the Premier Athlete Brand to a tag title match at one of the April EVOLVE shows. The Brand came out and attacked Swann. Johnny Gargano and Ethan Page dashed out to make the save, which fed into the show's opening match of Page versus Caleb Konley.

They had a fun little match, the highlights of which were a Konley double stomp on the ring apron and Page using Gargano's lawn dart. Page survived a Lionsault, the One Night Stand fireman driver, and outside interference from the Brian Cage and Andrea to get the win with a schoolboy roll-up and a handful of tights. It's nice that Page got a win but it's a shame it had to come at the expense of Konley, a guy who went from the middle of the card to the top over the course of last year and who deserves to be treated more like a top guy.

After the match So Cal Val shouted that the loss wasn't part of her plan (well obviously not, Val) before Andrea swerve turned on Brian Cage with a low blow. He was to blame for Konley's loss apparently. This development was a pity. I thought Cage was a good fit with the Brand.

The traditional 'Mania weekend six man tag was on second, although this year it was a six woman tag presented by WWN affiliate Shine. Nicole Matthews (the SHIMMER champ), Portia Perez (collectively known as the Canadian Ninjas), and Nikki Storm were due to faced Shine champion Mia Yim and Shine tag team champions Cherry Bomb and Kimber Lee (collectively known as the Kimber Bombs). Before the match began Andrea and SCV returned to the ring. Andrea attacked Nikki Storm and replaced her in the match. Presumably Storm's two matches in the chick fight tournament which had preceded this show played a part in this decision. Mia Yim, who's also wrestled two matches, contributed less to this match than I'd expected for the same reason.

As a successor to some of the Dragon Gate scorchers that have taken the six man spot in previous years this match didn't hold up. But that's an almost impossibly high standard to meet. Judged at a more realistic level (without the comparison) this was a good match. Everyone got a chance to - ahem - shine, Andrea was presented as a powerhouse, and there was a nice, albeit brief, sequence pitting the two singles champions against one another (something that a match like this really has to do). Mia Yim got the pin for her team when she rolled Perez up following a back and forth exchange of forearms.

After the match the Ninjas argued with Val and Andrea, setting up the return of Nikki Storm. She declared herself the "white chocolate cheesecake of sports entertainment" and challenged Andrea to a match at Shine 26. It set up matches for a show that will be all too easy to overlook, awkwardly falling a few days after the WrestleMania Weekend festivities as it does.

In a surprise move Drew Galloway sauntered out after that. The reason for this early arrival was that he'd been offered a booking back in Scotland the next day and wanted to take it so that he could defend the EVOLVE championship and a newly won Open the Freedom Gate championship there. Not one to disappoint, Gargano accepted the early call and walked down to the ring with Ethan Page for the much hyped title versus title match.

The opening minutes were characterised by Gargano using his speed against Galloway's strength. The action would spill to the outside where Galloway would tilt-a-whirl Gargano onto the apron. Not to be outdone Gargano would toss the former 3MBer into the first row and dive over the barricade onto him. After a lengthy brawl around the arena the pair returned to the ring and Galloway ate a Gargano spear. He fired back with an inverted concrete slam. Gargano responded with a lawn dart.

Moments later Gargano would manoeuvre the EVOLVE champ out to the floor and attempt a suicide dive. Galloway blocked it but failed to block the super kick that followed. Gargano got his suicide dive on the second attempt but wiped out the referee in the process.

Back in the ring Galloway scored with an exploder into the corner. His cover didn't get him a win because there was nobody to count the pin. The Open the Freedom Gate champion escaped a double arm DDT and floored Galloway with an enziguri as Page got up onto the apron to offer him some wrist tape. This was a call-back to Gargano choking out SHINGO at Open the Ultimate Gate 2013 (the first ever DG USA show I reviewed, fact fans), an act which signalled a heel turn at the time. Gargano accepted the tape but, after a brief pause, threw it out of the ring. I thought this really added a lot to the match. It made it clear that Gargano is back to being an honourable lad and sowed about Page.

Gargano turned around into a double arm DDT from Galloway. A second referee ran to the ring to count the fall but Gargano kicked out. The second ref didn't last: he'd fall victim to a misplaced sick kick seconds later. Galloway got caught in the Gargano Escape. He countered into pin for two then took a super kick. Gargano tried to skin the cat but got caught by the EVOLVE champion, who went for a Tombstone piledriver. Gargano reversed into a Gargano Escape. Galloway muscled his way back to his feet and got the Tombstone.

Gargano kicked out but was clearly worn out. Galloway hoisted him onto his shoulders and clambered to the top rope, leaping off for an Emerald Flowsion but finding it reversed into a DDT in mid-air. 'The Whole Shebang' staggered to his feet and super kicked a kneeling Galloway twice. Galloway staggered to his feet and absorbed two more before falling to his feet. Gargano went for a fifth but Galloway sidestepped it and hit him with two double arm DDTs.

Gargano kicked out to a great crowd response then spat in Galloway's face. That caused Galloway to snap. He grabbed Gargano, yanked him to his feet, and drilled him with a jumping tombstone piledriver for the victory.

I thought it was a very good match. There were elements of the Attitude Era to it with the extended crowd fight and the bevy of finishing moves (and the kick outs from them) but used sparingly I think that match can be very effective. It helped to make the match feel more like the big fight it was meant to be. I don't think Gargano and Galloway could have had a better match. It's a shame they didn't get to close the show and the weekend (for the WWN).

After both men had lain about making it clear they were exhausted from their match Galloway took the microphone to cut a promo. He declared that 'Mania 26, where he wrestled in a Money in the Bank ladder match, wasn't his WrestleMania moment, this match was. He put over Gargano and pandered to the fans by saying the ring belonged to everyone. He asked for and received a handshake from the former champion, passed him the microphone, and left. All Gargano managed to say was "thank you" before Ethan Page lamped him and gave him a good stomping. 'All Ego' revealed that he was taking his cue from Ronin, going after Gargano's spot and ending his WWN career.

The turn was an interesting twist which I hadn't expected. They'd been laying the respect on so heavily that I'd expected Page to officially join Ronin and perhaps go after the tag titles with Gargano. This was probably a better option. It introduces a much needed fresh rivalry to EVOLVE.

Tasked with the tough job of following that was a four-way match featuring TJ Perkins, Drew Gulak, Tommy End and Biff Busick. After overcoming some initial awkwardness they got into a good groove. The match didn't dazzle but it had its moments. I particularly liked the sequence where TJP trapped End in a deathlock and fought off Busick and Gulak with abdominal stretches and a northern lights suplex. Perkins got a flash win with the cross armbreaker on Gulak.

PJ Black versus AR Fox was good, though not as good as I'd expected. It was heavy on spots but they weren't quite flashy or bountiful enough to help the match live up to its heavy 'Darewolf' versus 'Daredevil' hype. Highlights included: Black avoiding an attack by moonsaulting from the apron to the floor; Black super kicking Fox in mid-air off a guardrail springboard; another Fox springboard being turned into a triangle choke; and a Death Valley driver from the top rope to the apron by Black, softening 'The Whole Foxin' Show' up for a springboard 450 splash.

The match likely would have benefited from being repositioned first or second on the card. Of course my lack of interest in Fox probably didn't help matters.

After some excessive plugging from some lad whose name I missed (he was the WWN "ambassador") we got Timothy Thatcher facing Chris Hero. The match took an age to begin as Hero spent what must have been a good three or four minutes milking duelling chants from the crowd in a storyline attempt to rattle Thatcher with his popularity. Thatcher simply stood stocky in the ring and looked unimpressed with the veteran's antics. It was good to see the crowd so hot so it made sense to make use of it.

Instead of going into a dynamic series of strikes and counter strikes they went with the Thatcher standard: mat wrestling and submission holds. This isn't a bad thing but it doesn't provide much variety and does run the risk of cooling audiences down. Thankfully that didn't happen here, although some fans did start singing, which may have been worse. I suspect a more unpredictable approach to the blending of styles would have been more warmly received. 

This match, more than any other I've seen him in, highlighted Thatcher's inability or unwillingness to change things up. He's very good at his style of match but doesn't seem interested in doing much else. Even against someone like Hero, who has plenty of experience and an ability to tap into plenty of different styles, we got the same sort of match we always get from Thatcher. This isn't the worst thing in the world as Thatcher's matches usually have something dynamic and engaging in them, especially in the closing stretches, but it would be nice if they weren't so predictable.

Hero blasted Thatcher with four rolling elbows (the last with the elbow pad removed) and left him limp on the mat. He went for a cover but Thatcher kicked out and slipped on a Fujiwara armbar for the tap out win. After the match Hero slapped Thatcher twice, getting one in return each time. This was a respect thing with no malice to it. They shook and Hero left Thatcher to bow to the crowd.

The main event was the much ballyhooed tag match pitting Uhaa Nation and Ricochet against Roderick Strong and Austin Aries, reuniting as Generation Next properly for the first time since 2011 in PWG (before that they hadn't been together since 2007 in the final match of their ROH run together). The match was notable for featuring representatives of ROH (Strong), TNA (Aries), Lucha Underground (Ricochet as Prince Puma) and soon-to-be WWE (Nation). It was quite the inter-promotional affair. The first half of the match was best described as serviceable, with nothing special happening and a safe pace being set.

Things picked up in the second half. Tags were surreptitiously abandoned and the four worked through some sick double team spots. Roddy and 'A Double' demonstrated that they coud, if given the opportunity, still be of benefit to a tag division. Strong won after avoiding a Ricochet Shooting Star Press before hitting him with a knee and an absolutely wild lumbar check. Ricochet managed a ridiculous number of rotations when he was thrown up to take the move.  

After the match Roddy took a mic and made some babyface comments about how Aries had made him the man and the wrestler he is. Then he swerve turned, cracking Aries and Uhaa with the microphone and grabbing the mic again to say that he'd destroyed Drew Galloway at EVOLVE 38 and was gunning for the newly won titles. Timothy Thatcher came out to run him off and end the show on a positive note by thanking the fans. On the subject of Roddy and the championships he said the road to them went through him.

Going back to the question I posed at the beginning of this review's second paragraph: yes, this show was good. The main event started off slowly but ended well, while Thatcher versus Hero and the title versus title match were good from start to finish and there were again no out-and-out bad matches on the card.

That said I don't think the show was the success that EVOLVE 39 was. On the reflection the first WWN offering of the weekend was the best. It was the most consistent and its big matchs were just as enjoyable as the big matches here. I think the level of spectacle was right for this Supershow but an injury and Black and Fox not clicking quite as well as might have been hoped hampered things just a bit.

Overall though it was a success. The Page turn on Gargano was set up well and should lead to interesting things over the next several shows. Galloway becoming a double champ was a mild surprise but deserved considering the passion and effort he's displayed in his time with the company so far. And the final turn from Roderick Strong reminded us that he's not meant to be likeable or trustworthy. He's been built up as a major challenge for Galloway. Now we get to sit back and watch Galloway overcome him.  

***

Results summary:

Ethan Page defeated Caleb Konley
Mia Yim, Kimber Lee and Cherry Bomb defeated Andrea, Nicole Matthews and Portia Perez
Drew Galloway defeated Johnny Gargano to retain the EVOLVE championship and win the Open the Freedom Gate championship
TJ Perkins defeated Biff Busick, Drew Gulak and Tommy End
PJ Black defeated AR Fox
Timothy Thatcher defeated Chris Hero
Generation Next defeated Uhaa Nation and Ricochet

AJ Lee's Search for (WW)Equality

On Monday 23 February Stephanie McMahon took to Twitter to congratulate Patricia Arquette¹ on striking a blow for women's rights by speaking in favour of equal pay for actresses. It was the sort of thing Steph does from time to time, designed as much to try and capitalise on the latest trending topics on social media as to express any genuine sentiment. It was a non-issue.

Two days later that changed when AJ Lee responded to Steph's tweet with the following message across two tweets:

Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise and have starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times, and yet they receive a fraction of the wages and screen time of the majority of the male roster. #UseYourVoice

Steph acknowledged the tweet and thanked AJ for her opinion. The following RAW played host to a Nikki Bella versus Paige Divas championship match which was noticeably different to the average WWE women's offering. Both wrestlers hit harder and used a wider variety of moves than they usually would. After the match AJ Lee returned and united with Paige to clear the ring of the Bellas. Although no mention was made of AJ's tweets to Steph it looked as though the desired effect had been achieved.

Main event draws?

On the one hand AJ has a fair point. Matches featuring WWE's female performers are routinely positioned as toilet breaks before pay-per-view main events, get short TV matches, and are generally presented as inferior to their male counterparts. Companies like Shine and SHIMMER, the once great Knockouts division in TNA, and the way women's wrestling has been and continues to be appreciated in NXT show that a modern audience can appreciate women wrestlers as more than eye candy and filler material. The presentation of women on the main WWE roster is behind the times.

Unfortunately some of Lee's points are questionable. Not knowing the pay scale of WWE's main roster performers it's impossible to comment on whether or not women are paid fairly. What is known is that the majority of the women in NXT are paid more than the average male performers there (that's basically everyone who's not Owens, Zayn, Bálor, Itami or Neville). The reasoning behind this is that it's tough to maintain the "look" the company expects from its female performers on a developmental wage. It's not progressive reasoning but it is still more money.

The merchandise sales are harder to comment on. Most important to note is that (as revealed in an interview given by Nikki Bella) all WWE performers receive the same percentage of merchandise sales. It's also worth noting that there haven't been any reports of fans being unable to purchase the T-shirts of female performers at house show booths, as was the case with Randy Orton's shirts last year. That indicates that WWE are managing to keep up with whatever demand there is. It's also worth noting that no wrestling shows ever see an overwhelming number of T-shirts for female wrestlers in the crowd. Bullet Club's dominance in that field is safe for the time being. Basically, any deficiencies AJ detects in her merchandise cut can be attributed to her not being as popular as she thinks she is.

The biggest question regarding Lee's comments can be levied at her claim that female wrestlers have "starred in the highest rated segment of the show several times." This is true but put into context it's a far lesser deal than Lee would like it to be. First of all there are only two women currently under contract who have been in these segments: Stephanie McMahon and AJ Lee herself. In Stephanie's case she is almost always interacting with male performers. While this doesn't disprove Steph herself is an effective, believable character it doesn't prove she is either. People are just as likely watching because Triple H or John Cena or Seth Rollins are also involved, or because she generally appears in the opening and closing of the show, which are always positioned as the most important parts of WWE television shows.

To find proof of AJ's history in high rated segments you have to go back to 2012. At the time she was one of the most over performers of either gender in the company. She'd gained this popularity through a combination of having a character that was different from the norm and by being involved in a storyline with the supremely over Daniel Bryan and WWE champion CM Punk². It's entirely accurate to say she was involved in the highest rated segments of RAW at this time, but anyone in her spot would have been because they were in segments with Bryan and Punk. The success was only partially attributable to her. I think it's fair to say it was primarily attributable to Punk and Bryan: Punk remained popular until he left WWE while D-Bry remains popular to this day.

AJ herself was over at this time. I'm not claiming that she had no effect on the success of the storylines or segments she was involved with. But I don't think they would have been any less well received without her involvement. At the time I saw it as a forward-thinking move by WWE, getting audiences used to female performers associating with the male main event stars. Looking back I still see it that way, it's just a move they failed to follow through on (hardly a surprise as they fail to follow through on so much).

"Come on, Nikki. Let's practice our staring!"

On the issue of screen time Lee has a point. The main roster is (very) roughly twenty-five per cent female. Based on this it could be argued that a quarter of every show could be dedicated to women's wrestling. In practical terms this simply wouldn't work because of the fourteen women on the main roster only four definitely have characters that the majority of people care about: the Bella twins, Paige and AJ Lee (and even Paige is a shaky claim outside of Britain). Beyond them only Natalya, Summer Rae and Naomi have a semblance of character. These aren't enough names to construct a division around.

WWE's programming is currently structured around the guys who headline pay-per-views. As the success of any pay-per-view not named WrestleMania generally rests on the popularity of the wrestlers in its top one or two matches this is a sound approach. There is an argument to be made in favour of fleshing out the women's division with more interesting characters and giving them more screen time but that's a gradual process that rushing won't help with.

Lee is right in her sentiment. WWE doesn't treat its female performers as fairly as it could. Looking back to the early naughties³ and seeing the way in which Trish Stratus, Lita, Mickie James and Victoria were booked shows us that it can, which only makes the current situation even more frustrating. But her view that the current batch of female wrestlers are proven draws is incorrect. They can be, and should be given the chance to prove it, but they're not there yet.

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¹ She's an actress. I mention this because I've never heard of her and I'm assuming other people may be in the same position. Maybe she's related to the former WCW champion...

² Kane was also involved.

³ Do we have a better term for this yet? No? Okay, can someone just shoot me, please? Thanks.

There's Something About Ivelisse

When Tough Enough returned in 2011 one of the show’s fourteen contestants was Ivelisse Velez, a 22-year-old who’d been wrestling on and off since 2007. She was one of the season’s better potential wrestlers, having a good look, athletic ability, and a demonstrable passion for the wrestling business. Had she not been cut after suffering a leg injury I think there’s a good chance she could have made it to the end of the series and won.

Not that getting cut was necessarily the worst news. Having obviously impressed somebody Velez was signed to a developmental contract later in 2011. She worked for both FCW and NXT over the following nine months, before being released in the autumn of 2012. I saw all three of her matches on NXT (a victory over Paige, a count out win over Natalya, and a loss to then-monster Tamina Snuka) at the time and enjoyed them well enough, but she didn’t make a huge impression on me. From what I can remember she struck me as perfectly competent but nothing more.

That changed when she rocked up on Impact Wrestling in early 2013 as part of their ill-fated (and ill-thought out) but well intentioned Gut Check segment. For those who’ve blocked Gut Check from their memories or been lucky enough to never see it it was a segment presented as something of a shoot, where two wrestlers would compete for permanent spots on the TNA roster. Ivelisse cut a fantastically passionate promo about how she’d loved wrestling since she was a kid, saying that she desperately wanted to make it.

Nine times out of ten wrestlers trot that out when they’re in similar situations, and in most cases I’m sure it’s true. But it’s been heard so often that it’s hard not to see it as something of a cliché these days. That wasn’t the case with Ivelisse. She gave an excellent performance that made her stand out. She seemed particularly sincere with her claim and her desire to succeed. It was heartening to see someone like that in TNA.

Ivelisse was booked to win her try-out match opposite Lei’D Tapa but it was Tapa who got the contract. It seemed a contradictory way of operating, but that’s TNA for you. Tapa would be dispatched to OVW to “learn how to work” before returning as Gail Kim’s bodyguard, only to get released for not being a good enough wrestler. It strikes me now as a perfect example of the age old wrestling approach of desiring size over anything else. And also of TNA not having a clue what they were doing.

Since then Ivelisse has most prominently worked for the various WWN Live promotions. She’s worked as a valet for the likes of AR Fox and Rich Swann on EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA shows, usually being used to combat Su Yung in her guise as the Premier Athlete Brand’s secretary. Her work there has been fine for what it is. The fem-gangster act isn’t the best thing ever but it at least seems believable and is played with conviction. We’ve also seen her on Lucha Underground, so it’s not like she’s lacking TV exposure.

Ivelisse likes a rag-scarf.

But it’s Shine where she’s truly… well, shined¹. Since her WWE release she’s become a regular for the promotion, earning herself a top spot, being a founding member of Valkyrie, and enjoying a reign as the group’s second ever champion with quality matches against the likes of Mia Yim, Serena Deeb, and Nevaeh. She has made herself someone to watch and helped make Shine a group to pay attention to. When she was champion she carried the title like it meant something to her, a trait far too rare amongst wrestlers.

Getting released by WWE in 2012 was probably, in hindsight, about the best thing that could have happened to Velez. She’s getting regular work against a wider variety of opponents than she would have had were she based at the developmental performance centre, and she has far more creative freedom. She’s also been on a tour of China, something not even WWE would have offered her.

But as well as she’s doing outside of WWE I hope to see her make her way back there at some point. It’s always nice to see a hard-working performer getting paid good money, and matches pitting Ivelisse against Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte, Natalya and Paige could all be superb. Basically if WWE ever get their act together with women’s wrestling Ivelisse would be a great signing. She’s got the look, the passion, and the ring skills to be an asset to women’s wrestling and any promotion, from Shine to WWE, that has the sense to hire her.

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¹ This is possibly a grammatical error. It could be “shone” rather than “shined”. But I felt comfortable with this as I’m a fan of puns. Deal with it.